Companion Pieces
by womanofwords
Summary: Alternate takes of chapters, extended/deleted scenes from stories, and companion one-shots. All these pieces are from or deal with my story Late Night Conversations and its sequels.
1. Companion OneShot: Interrupt

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Author's note: What might have happened after Katya and Touma left the diner. There's a brief mention of Katya and Ryo's date which took place prior to _Late Night Conversations_, and the events of that date are detailed in the forthcoming short story "The First and Last Date."

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><p>Interrupt<p>

By womanofwords

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><p>Shin was the first to speak after they watched Katya and Touma leave.<p>

"Who else thought they were on a date?" he asked. "It was painfully obvious."

The others nodded. It was ridiculous, really. Touma kept a certain amount of distance from Katya for most of the time they were talking, but anyone could see it.

"Not his girlfriend, my ass." Shuu muttered, and the others nodded an agreement.

"She seemed more nervous when he did. Did anyone else notice the way her hands shook?" Seiji asked. The other looked at him for a long moment. Seiji shook his head. "Don't look at me like that, I just notice things."

There was quiet for a long time as they pretended to study their menus and thought back to the awkward couple. Now that they all thought about it, her hands had been shaking, and she didn't say anything other than to ask if they were Touma's friends. From what they had heard about Katya from both Touma and Ryo, she seemed like a completely different person when the others finally saw her. Heck, she hadn't even-

"Hey, Ryo, how come she acted like she didn't know you?" Shuu asked. "Weren't you guys going out for a while before she and Touma did?"

"It was one date, Shuu, and it wasn't even because she wanted to. I told you about that." Ryo said. "She probably didn't want to get Touma upset."

"Would he get upset about that, though? Shuu? What do you think? I mean, you've known him longer than we have." Shin asked. Shuu shrugged.

"He isn't the type to _get_ upset, honestly. But I dunno; I've never seen him with a girl before, either." Shuu let out a half-snort, half-laugh. "I honestly thought he had no interest in _anybody_, to tell you the truth."

"Well, what's _she_ like, anyway? I mean, he's obviously not into her for her looks-" Seiji paused when he saw the death glare Ryo was giving him. "Sorry," he mumbled, looking back to his menu.

"Ryo, man, chill." Shuu said. Ryo shook his head.

"Nah, forget it. I'm sorry, Seiji. It's just- Katya _is_ a good girl, you know. Despite the fact she's kind of heavy." Ryo told the others. "She's kind of serious most of the time, though. She's one of those artsy chicks. Foreign films and underground bands and all that."

"The hipster type?" Shin asked. "She doesn't dress like it."

Ryo shook his head.

"Nah. Like I said, she's just kind of awesome in her way. Not my type. Too bossy." He laughed lightly. "Definitely Touma's, though."

"Who would have thought he'd have a girlfriend before us?" Shuu asked.

"I say it won't last." Seiji said. "Touma's a good guy, but he's too unsure of himself."

"True enough." Shin said. "I give it six months."

"We are not betting on Poindexter's relationship." Ryo told them, an air of finality in his voice.

"What's _with_ you?" Seiji asked.

"I just don't like it when people trash-talk someone they don't know. Just because you can't even talk to girls doesn't mean you should rag on Katya. You don't even know her." Ryo said.

"Alright, fine, I'll keep my mouth shut from now on." Seiji said.

"Please do." Ryo shot back.

"Both of you shut up before I clock you." Shuu burst in, and they fell silent.

The air around the table was tense. Shin cleared his throat, and began to speak as the others looked over at him.

"Seriously, chill out. Both of you are arguing about something that doesn't even involve you. IT's Touma's life, let him live it." Shin told them.

The table fell silent as a server came by and took their orders. As they waited for their food, Seiji looked over at Ryo.

"I'm sorry for being such a pig," he told him, and Ryo laughed.

"I'm sorry for being such a jackass." Ryo told Seiji, and the two of them reached their hands across the table and shook on it just as the servers arrived with their food.

"Enough chitchat, let's eat." Shuu told them, grabbing his plate and digging in.


	2. Companion OneShot: Games

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Author's note: A sidestory/continuation of chapter 4 of _Late Night Conversations_. It was mentioned Philippe gave Katya a dirty look when Philippe was trying to talk to Touma and Katya was distracting Touma because she was being so affectionate. I wanted the two to have a discussion afterwards, out of Touma's presence. Since the story is third-person limited from Touma's viewpoint, this was kind of difficult unless I changed point-of-view midstream, which I absolutely hate to do if I can help it.

This sidestory mentions events that take place prior to _Late Night Conversations_. These events will be detailed in the forthcoming short story "Innocent."

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><p>Games<p>

By womanofwords

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><p>After Philippe left the shower and dressed, he headed to Katya's room. He gave a light knock on the door.<p>

"Come in," he heard Katya call, and he entered her room.

"Philippe, what's up?" Katya was standing in front of her mirror, brushing her hair.

"What was that, earlier? With Touma?" he asked, lowering himself to sit on Katya's bed. Katya let out a short laugh and looked at her step-cousin over her shoulder.

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head. "Absolutely nothing."

"Could have fooled me." Philippe told her. "Could have fooled Touma, too, by the looks of it. His eyes were about ready to pop out of his skull."

"Why are you so concerned?" she asked her step-cousin, finally turning to look at him.

Philippe could see his cousin was getting ready to enter defensive mode. While he wasn't nearly as practiced as Vasha when it came to getting Katya to let her guard down, he had a few tricks up his sleeve. One of his tricks was at least somewhat appropriate for this particular occasion. He had never used it before, and Katya didn't know he knew about the particular event he was about to mention.

"Does this have anything to do with that business with Akio?" he asked. "A little bit of revenge by proxy?"

Katya's eyes narrowed and she whipped around to look at her mirror again. Philippe waited for her response, but he knew he had struck a nerve. Whether he was correct or not, Akio would probably always be a sore subject for his cousin.

"This has nothing to do with that bastard." Katya said finally, sighing and going to sit next to Philippe on her bed. The defense she had been building up was broken, and Philippe figured he had probably gone a little too far.

Katya sighed and brushed her hair back off her face with her hands. She didn't look upset, but Philippe knew his step-cousin better than that. She hated wearing her emotions on her sleeve, and tended to try and keep herself composed at all times.

"I like Touma." She said, looking at Philippe. "He's a nice guy."

Philippe noticed his cousin blushing, and let out a laugh-snort. Katya let out an indignant laugh and gave her cousin a playful shove.

"Not like that!" she said. "I think," she muttered, looking away from Philippe.

"Hey," Philippe took his cousin's chin in his hand and turned her to him. "I'm sorry. I went for the low blow. I just think you need to take it slow, hmm? He seems like a decent dude, but I don't want you to get hurt, or for you to go hurting someone else because of something they had nothing to do with."

"I know." Katya said, standing up again. "I'm not playing some kind of game, Philippe."

"I know," Philippe said, standing up and giving his cousin a small hug. "Alright, kiddo. Off to bed with you."

He turned to leave, pausing at the door when he heard Katya call his name.

"Thanks, Philippe. For not going all 'Vasha-dad-mode' on me." The cousins both lightly laughed at that. Vasha was ridiculously protective of Katya sometimes, and Katya sometimes called Vasha "Dad" in jest.

"Not a problem, cousin. Just remember what I said." With that, Philippe left, shutting the door behind him.


	3. Alternate Take:LNC 10, apartment scene 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. The poem in this is "Buried Love" by Sara Teasdale. I make no money from this story.

Author's note: The original version of the apartment scene in chapter ten. It's almost completely different from the final version. Ultimately, I changed the poet Katya reads to Elizabeth Bishop because I initially wasn't too sure what the intent of the poem was supposed to be, and so I kept switching poems and poets, trying to figure out what exactly Katya is trying to say when she recites the poem. Also, Katya isn't upset in this like in the final version- the way they end up sharing a bed is this version was… well, really lame in my opinion, and I hate when things happen because Katya is being "cool and collected," as Touma would put it.

I also ultimately changed the entire chunk at the end of the chapter, when Touma is in bed with Katya- originally he was thinking about those unknown feelings he had in the diner, and in the end, while I really thought it was cute and very Touma-ish, I cut it because I wanted his realization to be a bit more gradual (I thought about holding this alternate take back till he had the realization in-story, but since these aren't canon to the story anyway I figured I'd go ahead).

This is only the first version; I revised the scene an additional time before arriving at the final version. That version and its notes are included in the chapter following this one.

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><p>Alternate take: Apartment Scene, chapter 10 (Late Night Conversations), initial version<p>

(Starts after Touma says "Do I need a reason?" in the elevator)

By womanofwords

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><p>When they reached the apartment, Touma went to the kitchen with the containers of food while Katya excused herself to go change.<p>

"Make yourself comfortable!" she called from her room.

Touma put the food containers in the fridge and headed into the living room. He decided against turning the television on and went straight to the bookshelves. He grabbed a thick heavy book from the top shelf and settled on one of the couches to read it. His plan was thwarted when he realized the writing wasn't a script he was familiar with. _Probably Russian_, he thought. He set the book on the end table and waited for Katya to come back.

Katya entered the living room and picked up the book on the end table.

"Now, now, Touma. I've told you to put the books back when you're done." She teased him, flipping through the book as she did so.

"I wasn't done. Well, I mean, I can't _read_ that book, obviously, so I was hoping…" he trailed off.

"Yes?" Katya said, sitting next to him and putting the book in her lap as though she already knew what he was asking.

_Of course she knows, you're so transparent it's ridiculous. Grow a backbone; it's not that hard to ask someone to read to you._

"Read me a poem? Please?" he asked Katya, who beamed and immediately turned to a page.

"I shall bury my weary Love beneath a tree, in the forest tall and black where none can see. I shall put no flowers at his head, nor stone at his feet, for the mouth I loved so much was bittersweet." Katya looked over at Touma as she read, taking one of his hands in hers. She ran her thumb over one of his knuckles as she continued to read. "I shall go no more to his grave, for the woods are cold. I shall gather as much of joy as my hands can hold. I shall stay all day in the sun where the wide winds blow, but oh, I shall weep at night when none will know."

The air was still as Katya ceased speaking. Katya closed the book and stood up to put it back on the shelf.

"Sara Teasdale." Touma spoke, recognizing the poem. "American. I take it-"

"Philippe bought it for me as a birthday gift. Well, he had the idea; Vasha's the one who had my father send a Russian translation." Katya smiled as she sat next to him. "Even if it's only a collection of foreign poems, my family doesn't want me to forget where I came from."

The two of them fell quiet once again. Touma thought about putting an arm around Katya, but before he worked up the nerve Katya sat up and told him it was getting late. Then she stood there, like she was waiting for him to say or do something. He told her good night, but she laughed and grabbed his hand, attempting to pull him off the couch.

"C'mon, you're not sleeping there tonight. That old thing will collapse eventually." She told him.

Touma stood up and let Katya drag him, uncertain at first as to where they were going. Then it hit him.

"I am not sleeping in your room with you." He told her, digging his heels into the carpet to prevent her from dragging him further.

"Touma!" Katya pouted, and damn it, he hated when she did that. "That couch is horrible. Your back's going to be in knots tomorrow."

"Who said I was staying over?" Touma shot back, but he knew he would be, and he knew she knew as well.

"C'mon, please?" Now she was giving him the puppy dog eyes, too.

"Damn the puppy eyes," he muttered, and Katya giggled. "Fine, you win. Evil woman."

"And you love me for it."

Katya's remark didn't really hit till much later, when they were lying there and Katya was already asleep. He couldn't sleep again, but that was nothing new. He just lay there, occasionally stealing a glance at Katya and trying to let his mind wander.

His mind, of course, kept wondering to their date earlier that night. That surge of feeling he kept feeling… What _was_ it? It was moments like this, lying in the dark and thinking about the new feelings he'd been having lately, that he realized he knew nothing about himself. He didn't even know what he felt most of the time.

That feeling… like when he kissed Katya for the first time but a million times stronger. Like someone punched him in the solar plexus. It had been there for a while, sparking when he first met her, and increasing ever since. And he couldn't stop thinking about what Katya had said before she dragged him to her room.

"_And you love me for it."_

"_You love me for it."_

"_You love me."_

"Damn it," he muttered, throwing a pillow over his face as it finally clicked. "_Damn it_."


	4. Alternate Take:LNC 10, apartment scene 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. The poem in this chapter is "I Know I am But Summer To Your Heart" by Edna St. Vincent Millay. I make no money from this story.

Author's note: The second version of the apartment scene in chapter ten. In this version, the poet is Edna St. Vincent Millay. I discarded this version because the poem was too obvious in what it was talking about, and I wanted something a little less so. This version is definitely a blend of the initial version and the final product, for the most part; the only things that are unique are the poem and what happens after Katya reads it, for the most part.

Katya is upset like in the final version, but the way they end up sharing a bed is still not the same. I discarded this version of the bed snippet because there's no way Touma would sleep in Katya's bed without being told yet. The part at the end with Touma's realization has been cut from this version, but the part where he wonders about Katya being upset isn't there, and it just kind of… ends. I hated that.

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><p>Alternate take: Apartment Scene, chapter 10 (Late Night Conversations), Second version<p>

(starts after Touma says "Do I need a reason?" in the elevator)

By womanofwords

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><p>When they reached the apartment, Touma went to the kitchen with the containers of food while Katya excused herself to go change.<p>

"Make yourself comfortable!" she called from her room.

Touma put the food containers in the fridge and headed into the living room. Taking a bite of his egg sandwich, he noticed a thick hardcover book on the end table beside one of the couches. As he sat down, he reached over and took it. Putting his food aside, he flipped through the book.

It was in writing he didn't understand. He guessed it was probably Russian, and judging from the structure of the words on the page, it was probably poetry. He was about to put the book back when he heard Katya enter the living room.

"Now, now, Touma. I've told you to put the books back when you're done." She teased him, flipping through the book as she did so. She had changed into a tank top and shorts, and her hair was up in a loose bun. Her face seemed different somehow, and it took Touma a moment to realize she had been wearing makeup during their date and had washed it off when she went to change.

"I wasn't done. Well, I mean, I can't _read_ that book, obviously, so I was hoping…" he trailed off.

"Yes?" Katya said, sitting next to him and putting the book in her lap as though she already knew what he was asking.

_Of course she knows, you're so transparent it's ridiculous. Grow a backbone, it's not that hard to ask someone to read to you._

"Read me a poem? Please?" he asked Katya, who beamed and immediately turned to a page.

" I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year; and you must welcome from another part such noble moods as are not mine, my dear. No gracious weight of golden fruits to sell have I, nor any wise and wintry thing; and I have loved you all too long and well to carry still the high sweet breast of Spring." Katya glanced over at him, gave a small smile, and continued on. "Wherefore I say: O love, as summer goes, I must be gone, steal forth with silent drums, that you may hail anew the bird and rose when I come back to you, as summer comes. Else will you seek, at some not distant time, even your summer in another clime."

Touma didn't quite understand the poem Katya had just read to him, but he sat just a little closer to her, as if by decreasing the space between them he could understand the words she had just read to him.

"It's by Edna St. Vincent Millay," Katya told him. "An American poet. Vasha picked up a Russian translation somewhere for me. There's just… something about her poems. Like you with Pablo Neruda."

Touma nodded. At that moment he wanted to respond by reciting a line from Neruda's poems, but he wasn't fast enough to think of one that fit the situation and the moment passed. Katya shook her head as though to clear it and set the book aside.

"I'm going to bed," she whispered, and for a moment Touma wondered if she was crying, but she hurried out of the living room and down the hall too fast for him to ask any questions.

Touma waited about a half an hour, but Katya never emerged from her room. Quietly, he rose from the couch and went down the hall. Though the door to her room was closed, there was no indication Katya's lights were on. Hesitating briefly, he opened the door.

It was dark, but he could make out Katya lying on her side in her bed. Her breath was slow and soft, and Touma knew she must have been asleep. He turned to leave, but found himself unable to move. To his surprise, he found himself wanted to stay.

_She'll kill me if she sees me sleeping in her bed. But I want her to know she's not alone, since she __was__ kind of upset before she fell asleep… Fine, I'll take the risk._

Touma stepped into Katya's room and closed the door. He decided it was probably acceptable to remain clothed, and slid into Katya's bed beside her.

He couldn't sleep right away, but he listened to Katya breathe, and told himself maybe Katya wouldn't care when she woke up. If anything, she might be happy he had wanted to look after her. Even if she got mad, Touma knew, she wouldn't stay that way for very long. As Touma felt himself falling asleep, he found himself thinking she'd probably laugh it off and make it part of their deal somehow, and he chuckled before finally letting sleep claim him.


	5. Companion OneShot: Blue Boy

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Author's Note: Probably the only one-shot that'll be in first-person. It's from Katya's viewpoint, too. It's fairly short in comparison to, say, a chapter of _LNC_, nowhere near as long as "The First and Last Date," and I think it doesn't show Katya's personality as she is in _LNC_ at all, but I still like it anyway, even if I don't know why.

Timewise, this takes place about four months prior to the start of _LNC_, which makes it April. As per the Japanese school year and their ages, Touma has just started his first year of high school, while Katya has started in her second year.

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><p>Blue Boy<p>

By womanofwords

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><p>The first thought I had upon seeing him was that everything about him seemed to be colored in shades of blue. His eyes, his hair… Both are blue. He dresses mostly in blue. Even his skin seems blue; being so pale it looks like it lacks any hint of the pink or yellow undertone most other people have. Watching him reminds me of something out of Picasso's Blue Period. For this reason, I've nicknamed him Blue Boy, though I keep the nickname to myself.<p>

It was earlier in April the first time I saw him, shortly after school started again. According to one of the night shift hostesses, he's been coming to the diner every night, though she couldn't recall when he started to show up. Vasha's girlfriend Mae, who's a waitress, told me Blue Boy has only been showing up since late March, so it wasn't like the guy has been showing up for months and I never noticed. Mae also told me that Blue Boy only shows up late at night, which Mae thinks is kind of weird because he looks like he's only a little bit older than me, which of course gets Mae going into her whole "social worker/right the world's wrongs" mode.

It's obvious to me Blue Boy doesn't need any kind of saving. He looks well-fed, and his clothes, while not exactly screaming "I have fashion designers on speed dial," don't look like they came from the thrift store either. He looks like some naïve rich kid, and yeah, maybe he shouldn't be out late at night and his parents probably aren't parents of the year if he's out and about at all hours, but I doubted they're beating him. Neglectful, probably, most definitely. But not abusive. Though Mae would probably argue they were the same thing. Whatever.

I guess Blue Boy caught my notice because… No, Blue Boy _definitely_ caught my attention, mostly because he stares at me all the damn time. It's pretty obvious. Teenage boys aren't exactly known for subtlety, and it's made even more obvious because it's the night shift and sometimes Blue Boy and I are the only ones in the dining area besides the wait staff. It's almost funny, because I must be the only one to notice. Probably because everyone else has limited contact with him. I'm the only one who spends a decent length of time in his presence. Maybe that's why I'm not weirded out.

I should explain. Blue Boy _does_ stare at me, but it's not really that creepy stare. You know, the whole "I wanna wear your skin as a suit" kind of stare. He seems more curious about me than anything, and sometimes I wonder if he's ever seen a girl before. He probably attends an all-boys school. Or maybe he's just some kind of friendless nerd. Either way, Blue Boy seems harmless, so I let him stare.

Sometimes I wonder if I should talk to him, but the thought usually passes. Blue Boy seems content to stare. He probably would freak out if I talked to him. So I'll leave him alone.

I wonder if he thinks about me, though. Outside the diner, I mean. After Akio, I don't want to get attached to another asshole, but it would nice if some nice guy thought about me once in a while. Blue Boy's probably a good guy, the type everyone said Akio was. Yeah, Blue Boy looks like the type who'd charm a girl's mother without even trying, the type who'd get a father's approval almost right away. Of course, Blue Boy would probably be nervous as hell the whole time, but the parental units would probably find that endearing. He'd probably charm my parents if they were here and not in St. Petersburg.

Look at me; I'm talking about Blue Boy like I know him or something.


	6. Companion OneShot: First and Last Date

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Author's note: Just a hypothetical scenario as to how Katya and Ryo's date before the events of _Late Night Conversations _might have gone. Is it canon? That's up to the reader (like all my short stories that are connected to _LNC_, I let the reader decide if they accept the story as canon to the main one or not). I wrote it simply because I originally wanted a point of reference to my original plot. After I revised my story, I kept this story simply because, hey, I like having a sort of expanded universe thing going on.

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><p>The First and Last Date<p>

By womanofwords

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><p>Katya, or rather Ekaterina, would refer to the woman who set them up on a date as "the ambassador's newest toy," but Ryo knew the woman as an old schoolmate of his father's. Either way, the woman had introduced them at a party Ryo's father forced him to attend.<p>

Ryo was no idiot: his father often told him that the woman fancied herself a born matchmaker, and it was obvious the older woman was trying to set them up. He wondered if it was an attempt on the woman's part to show the ambassador she could connect with the Russian nationals present in her country, some vague attempt at diplomacy as the woman understood it.

In any case, the woman began dragging Ryo over to where Ekaterina was standing with a slightly older male. He had seen Ekaterina very obviously roll her eyes as she saw the woman approach with Ryo. The male said something in a foreign language and left, obviously excusing himself from what was probably a disaster in the making.

The initial impression Ryo had of the girl was that her face was pretty enough, but not model quality. Her face was of the sort his friend Shuu would call the "sweetheart" type: Not particularly striking or memorable, but with a beauty that seemed to be still developing. The girl's body seemed to be a little less than ideal: she had wide, sort of dumpy hips, a thick waist and very little chest. Of course, years later, he realized that it probably had more to do with the fact the girl probably hadn't learned to dress for her body type, but at the time he found her to be too heavy for his taste.

The woman introduced him to Ekaterina, and attempted to introduce Ekaterina as well, but stumbled over her name so badly Ekaterina stepped in.

"What she means to say is that my name is Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Tarasova. Just Ekaterina is fine." That first sentence was delivered so frostily Ryo wondered what he was getting himself into. The fact that the girl was staring daggers at the woman didn't help matters much.

By this time, the woman who introduced them had disappeared, obviously content to let the teenagers take it from there. Ekaterina looked Ryo up and down before speaking.

"So what relation are you to the twit?" she asked, glancing down at her nails as if inspecting them for imaginary dirt.

"Beg pardon?" As he asked her to clarify what she meant, Ryo understood the girl's coolness toward him: she thought he was a relative of some sort to the woman. "I'm not related to her, if that's what you're asking. She just dragged me over here."

Ekaterina's face softened. "Oh," she mumbled, blushing and looking embarrassed. "Sorry, I thought…"

Ryo nodded and waved a hand to assure the girl it was alright.

"It's fine, really. She was a schoolmate of my father's. According to him, she's mellowed out a little." Both of them let out a stifled laugh at that. The idea of that woman being any type of 'mellow' was ridiculous.

"I would have hated to have known her back then, if that's the case. I find her too insufferable already. But then again, the ambassador was never known for choosing women with brains." Ekaterina told him.

The conversation stalled as Ryo attempted to think up some kind of response to that, but Ekaterina saved him the potential embarrassment by changing the subject.

"Tell me about yourself, Ryo. What do you like to do?"

"Me? Like, my interests?" Ryo paused and thought for a moment. "I like video games. I play soccer. I like to be out in nature a lot."

"Really?" Ekaterina's eyes kind of lit up at that.

"Yeah, I used to live in the mountains before I started high school. It's gorgeous out there."

They talked for a while longer. Somehow the conversation drifted to books, and while Ryo was less well-read than Ekaterina, he found himself enjoying Katya's animated descriptions of books she had read. It was obvious she enjoyed reading, and he found himself asking her for recommendations for something to read.

"You'd probably enjoy Jack London, or Hemingway. Hemingway seems pretty dry at first, but his writing's brilliant. London's pretty good if you like adventure stories."

She seemed to want to continue the discussion, but the older male she'd been talking to earlier in the night came back and said it was time to leave. Ekaterina put up a mild fight to stay, and when she lost, she turned to Ryo to wish him a good night.

"Take care, Ekaterina," he told her.

"Call me Katya," she told him.

They finished their goodbyes, and Ryo went back to trying to be invisible at the party again. While it had been a pleasant conversation and he found Katya bright, he didn't expect to see her again.

He really should have known better.

About a week later, that dumb woman called him again, telling him she had arranged a date for him. Ryo assumed the woman was setting him up with some relative of the ambassador and tried to protest. The woman would have none of it, and told him the address of the girl and that she was expecting him at her door at 6:00 sharp on the 16th.

Ryo debated whether or not to go. On one hand, maybe the woman set him up with someone halfway interesting. On the other, the girl could be as dull as dishwater. Ultimately, he chose to go, reasoning that the girl was probably a relative of someone the woman knew and the woman would be pissed at him if he stood up the date.

Ryo went to the address on the 16th as he was told. He was surprised to see Katya waiting on the porch. He thought she probably lived in the building, and figured he could ask her where the apartment he was supposed to go to was located. As he walked up to her, she looked over at him and began to laugh.

"So it's you, again," she said. "At least we have the introductions out of the way."

"Huh?" Ryo was confused for a moment, but then it hit him that Katya was probably the girl he was supposed to be taking out tonight. "She got us again, didn't she?"

"Yeah, she did. It figures, doesn't it?" Katya stepped off the porch with a laugh. "So what's the plan?"

"Plan?"

"Yeah. She said some dude wanted a date with me. I figured that means you have a plan. Unless she threw you into this completely blind?" Katya stared at Ryo, and Ryo became uncomfortable at the intensity of her stare. She finally looked away, and he found himself breathing a sigh of relief.

"I have no plan. I've never… I mean, this is the first time I've ever been on a date."

Katya looked at him again, and he diverted his eyes. He was embarrassed enough as it was at the whole situation. He really didn't need Katya pitying him.

"Well, then, I guess as the one who has been on a date before, I'll take the lead." Katya told him. "For the sake of your pride, though, I think I'll let you pay for dinner."

"Uh…" Ryo hadn't thought to bring money with him. In retrospect, he felt stupid.

"Just kidding. Let's just get coffee, since neither one of us really wants to do anything fancy." Katya told him. Ryo got the feeling she was used to telling people what to do, and motioned for her to lead the way.

The two of them ended up in a small café. Ryo decided to skip the coffee and order a hot chocolate instead. Katya ordered some ridiculous coffee-thing whose name was so long she had to take a deep breath in the middle of her order to finish saying it. She also told the clerk to give them two pastries that looked more like miniature cakes than simple pastries.

As they sat there eating and drinking, Ryo decided to ask Katya some questions about herself.

"So you're not from around here? Originally, I mean." He asked her. Katya nodded, wiping away a stray trail of chocolate from her upper lip before speaking.

"I'm from St. Petersburg. Russia. I haven't lived there in years, though." She told him.

"Oh. Why the accent, then?"

"Who knows?" Katya said, quirking an eyebrow. "What's with the questions?"

Ryo let out a nervous laugh. "Just… That's what a date's about, right? Getting to know each other?" he asked.

Katya let out a low chuckle and Ryo gazed at her, confused. Katya took a bite of her pastry and a sip of her coffee before speaking again.

"Tell me something, Ryo. If we hadn't been thrown into this, would you be here now?" she asked.

Ryo shook his head almost immediately. He didn't even really have to think about it. While he had found Katya interesting and entertaining at the party, he hadn't thought about her since. The thought of asking her on a date certainly never entered his mind. She was less the type he would ask out on a date, and more the type he exchanged friendly 'hellos' with as they happened to pass by each other.

"I'm sorry," Ryo told Katya. He became surprised when she began to laugh.

"Don't be sorry," Katya told him after she caught her breath. "It happens. Sometimes people enjoy each other's conversation, but there's a distinct lack of chemistry. Nobody's fault."

"You know a lot about this kind of thing?" Ryo asked her.

She seemed to know a lot, Ryo thought. He wouldn't have been surprised if the girl told him she knew the secrets of the universe. She just seemed the type to know everything, and he found himself wanting to know what she knew… But he didn't need her to tell him there was no romantic chemistry between them.

"Not really. I know… That if there's something between two people, it's there. Usually from the very beginning." Katya smiled. "It may not be love at first, but there's some spark, something that helps the relationship get started."

Katya took another bite of pastry.

"Look at me, I probably make no sense." Katya joked. "Look, how about this. We finish up here, I tell you my theories of life, the universe and everything, and I'll tell that harpy we went on a date but there were no sparks and we're not interested in each other."

"You have theories on everything?" Ryo said.

"I do. How long do you think I have to blather on before this is considered a date?"

"An hour?"

"Can you stand being here that long?"

"Go ahead."

The date continued, but for Ryo, it was like talking with an old friend. He felt no romantic inclinations toward Katya, but he admired her ability to command a conversation and how intelligent and sure of herself she was.

When the date was over, he was glad he had gone.


	7. Companion OneShot: Innocent

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Author's Note: In the sidestory "Games," someone named Akio is mentioned in connection to Katya. In Chapter 12 of _Late Night Conversations_, Katya mentions she's not a virgin. Here's a hypothetical scenario as to what might have happened. Whether you accept it as canonical to _Late Night Conversations_ is up to you.

I'm so sorry for not updating! My beta crapped out on me, and between work and finding a new beta, I've been swamped. Thankfully, I should be back to updating regularly now. I'm posting this, another short ficlet, and chapter 13 of _LNC _tonight, and I should be posting chapter 14 and a companion sidestory to chapter 14 later this week.

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><p>Innocent<p>

By womanofwords

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><p>Akio was heralded as the sort of nice boy mothers told their daughters to marry. He was a good student, was polite to almost everyone, and always looked like he had just stepped out of one of those clothing catalogs, full of sleek and laughing rich kids. All the girls wanted Akio as their first boyfriend.<p>

Katya was in the first semester of her final year of junior high when she met Akio, and she had been one of those girls: the ones who stared dreamily after Akio as he practically floated down the hall like some kind of dream. He would smile in her direction as he passed, and Katya always believed he was smiling at her.

One day, he asked her if he could look over her biology notes to see if he had gotten everything that they were supposed to. She handed the notes over, and he smiled and thanked her. She remembered being giddy for the rest of the day: Akio had actually, undisputedly, smiled at her! She and her group of girlfriends poured over that moment countless times after school, giggling and having Katya recount it again and again till it should have lost all meaning, but of course it didn't because they were giddy fourteen year olds and this was Akio, god of the school.

Katya would look back on this and wonder just how the hell it was possible to be that stupid. But at fourteen, she was innocent and ignorant and naïve, and still had visions of ridiculous fairy-tale endings. Akio, at least in her innocent fourteen year old mind, was the perfect fairy-tale prince.

Akio eventually gave her the notes back, and asked if she wanted to hang out sometime. Katya remembered looking down at her shoes and mumbling a 'yes', and how Akio pretended he couldn't hear until she practically shouted it in the hallway. Thank god that the hallway was empty, even though Katya _still_ blushed so red Akio asked if she was running a fever or something. She reassured him she was fine, and then ran off, waiting till she was around the corner and out of Akio's sight range to let out a high-pitched squeal of delight and dance excitedly in the hallway.

It wasn't until later she realized she didn't have Akio's number, and that he didn't have hers. Her mood deflated; she berated herself for being so stupid. Akio would probably forget about the offer he made her, and any chance she had was probably lost now.

The next day, Akio came up to her before class. He teased about not having stuck around long enough to get his contact information or give him hers, before he handed her a slip of paper with his number. Before she could thank him, he drifted off again, in that perfect way of his. Katya smiled to herself and tried to ignore the obvious glares coming from a few other girls who had witnessed Akio talking to her.

It started slowly at first. She called Akio after school a few days later, and they talked and made plans to go to a movie Akio had wanted to see. He offered to take her to lunch afterward, and when she told her girlfriends, they all gushed about what they all saw as Katya's upcoming date with the dreamiest boy in school. Katya only put up token protests, saying it wasn't a date while really hoping it was. The blush on her cheeks persisted, and Katya wondered if it would become permanent, before laughing at herself for being so silly.

The first meeting went well, and the second one that followed soon after that. Soon, Katya and Akio were meeting two or three times a week, usually to see a movie and go out to eat after. Katya didn't really question it, even though her friends teased her and said Akio was her boyfriend. She denied it, but the idea still lingered in her mind. Maybe the two of them were boyfriend and girlfriend… But Akio hadn't even kissed her yet, and she always thought it was never official unless the two of you kissed (at least, that seemed to be the general consensus among her friends).

The next time she and Akio met, she asked him about it. Asked him what they were. Akio smiled and told her they were whatever she wanted them to be, and Katya told him about the kissing thing. It was embarrassing, really, and Akio didn't help matters by laughing at the whole thing.

But he kissed her as he dropped her back off at her and Vasha's apartment, so that seemed to settle the whole question for Katya.

Her friends took note of Katya and Akio's interaction that day, how Katya seemed to blush even more than normal and how Akio touched her arm in the hallway. They cornered Katya during gym, demanding the whole story, but Katya's even more scarlet cheeks and her nervous stammer that nothing had happened seemed only to confirm the truth of the matter. Katya gave in and indulged her friends with tales of the kiss, making the simple touch of lips on lips seem like something epic, like they had been clutching at each other like the kiss of the very essence of life and that they would die without it.

Never mind that all it had been was a simple peck on the lips, and Akio hadn't even made any attempt to touch her more than that. He hadn't been holding her, his hands hadn't even left his pockets, and it seemed very emotionless. But these things only made sense much later, long after the whole thing was over and Akio and her friends were barely more than vague shapes to her. No, right then, in the immediate aftermath, Katya thought everything about she and Akio was an epic romance worthy of the tales she read. Her friends thought she and Akio were so cute together, and Katya found herself thinking maybe she and Akio were meant to be together forever, and she imagined a wedding worthy of royalty and a happily ever after worthy of a fairy tale.

By November, she and Akio were more or less always together. Vasha had always allowed Katya to have friends over when he wasn't around, and while she was pretty certain Vasha only meant _friends _and not _boyfriends_, she never asked for clarification and had Akio come over all the time after school. He would walk with her after school let out, and she always made sure to keep an eye on the clock so that Akio was gone long before Vasha left.

Even though she and Akio were alone together in the apartment, nothing ever happened. Akio never let his hands drift any farther than Katya indicated she was comfortable with, and it was all very innocent for the first few weeks. Katya wasn't sure what had changed, when it had changed.

She and her girlfriends never discussed sex at all; it simply wasn't on their landscape. Katya _thought_ about it, of course; she sometimes found herself wondering what certain guys looked like naked, she wondered if they would be gentle in bed… Silly thoughts that passed quickly. Sometimes the thoughts were more personally focused: she wondered how awkward sex would be for herself, and she wondered if it really hurt the first time like Vasha's girlfriend told her once. For the most part, though, Katya didn't think about it much. She didn't know enough about sex to make a big deal about it, not the way she made a big deal about the apparent romance between her and Akio.

But at some point, things became different. She and Akio became more physical in their makeout sessions, letting their hands wander. For a while, just touching each other in innocent places was enough.

Then, one day in the middle of November, just before Katya turned 15, they went further. Akio slid his hands underneath Katya's shirt and asked her if she wanted to. Katya didn't really get what he was asking, but she knew if it made Akio happy, she would do anything he asked. She told him yes.

It _did_ hurt, after all. It wasn't as bad as she thought, but it was like… something like getting pinched down there and having cramps at the same time. But more than that, Katya was struck by how… ridiculous the act seemed. Akio moved above her, but he didn't seem to expect her to do anything more than lie there. So she lay there, watching him and torn between asking him to maybe slow down… and the overwhelming urge to laugh because the situation seemed so ridiculous. _This_ was sex? People made a big deal out of _this_?

When Akio finished (because really, he was the only one who got anything out of it), he told her he had to leave. After they got dressed, Katya led him to the front door. Akio gave her a kiss on the cheek as he left, and Katya stood there in the hallway for a long moment before shaking her head.

Maybe this meant they were really official now, she thought. Back then, she had no way of knowing it was only the beginning of the end.

It wasn't like in the movies. No rumors were spread about Katya's imagined promiscuity, and Akio didn't try and make a fool of her just because she slept with him. Instead, he began going out of his way to avoid her, something she noticed.

Everyone else noticed, too. Her girlfriends asked her what was wrong, had they broken up… And Katya had no real answer to give them. The only one who seemed to know what was happening was Akio, and he wasn't telling anyone.

One month passed. The little gossip there was died down, but Katya still wondered just what was up with Akio. Weren't they supposed to really be a couple now? Maybe he was just embarrassed, or something.

Finally, Katya cornered him in the hallway one day after school and asked him just what his problem was. Akio just laughed nervously and told her that he couldn't be with a girl like her.

That had been the last time she spoke to Akio. She didn't understand what he meant, and was too mortified to ask for clarification. With time (and more than a little help from Vasha's girlfriend Mae, who understood the whole thing even before Katya explained why she was asking), she understood what he meant by a girl like her, and how it really wasn't about her at all. Akio merely believed that boys did it and girls didn't (though how boys were supposed to do it when girls weren't she had no idea), and that any girl who did it with a guy was automatically bad news.

It was stupid.

By the time she left junior high in March and went on to high school that April, she hardly thought of Akio. She was already drifting away from the girls she called her friends. There seemed to be a weird disconnect between them now, since her whole thing with Akio wasn't some fairy tale and the other girls still cast their male classmates as fairy tale princes while Katya knew that a great deal of them were probably like Akio.

Katya didn't want to be like them. She'd take what she had learned over being that foolishly innocent any day.


	8. Ficlet: Streets

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Author's note: Just a little hypothetical ficlet. This takes place about two years prior to the start of _LNC_, and roughly takes place around the same time as "Innocent."

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><p>Streets<p>

by womanofwords

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><p>He had been reading a book as he walked down the street. Touma knew it was a dumb thing to do, but it wasn't his fault, really. If the girl had been a little less self-absorbed and paying attention to the goings-on around her instead of walking backward down the street (<em>and really, who <em>_does__ that?_ Touma thought)_,_ she would have seen him and steered clear of him like everyone else.

But now here he was, helping the girl up and muttering a quick apology before glancing at his watch and darting off to try and catch the train to get home. He was probably going to miss it, thanks to this girl.

It was entirely the boy's fault, Katya thought as she stood up and dusted herself off as the idiot ran off. Reading a book as he walked down the street… who _did_ that?

Okay, maybe she shouldn't have been walking backward, but she was watching Akio, and honestly didn't want to lose sight of him until the last possible moment.

She glanced back in the direction she had last seen Akio, but he was gone. Thanks to the boy, she had missed seeing Akio leave.


	9. Companion OneShot: Wearing the Mask

Disclaimer: I don't own Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or any characters from it. I do own Katya, Vasha, and Philippe. I make no money from this story.

Author's Note: A parallel one-shot to chapter fourteen of _LNC_. This one-shot is Katya's reaction to the events of chapter fourteen.

Contains allusions to "Innocent" and the forthcoming "In Bloom." Also contains mild spoilers for the events of the forthcoming short story "Patronymics," if you squint. And definitely contains spoilers for chapter fourteen of _LNC_, even if you don't squint.

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><p>Wearing the Mask<p>

By womanofwords

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><p>Katya wasn't stupid. She knew what he meant. Touma never did anything without a reason, and usually he was almost painfully obvious in his intent. She knew that before they had sex, he had been trying to tell her about his feelings. And that poem… There was no other interpretation. Touma was being clear as a bell and plain as day.<p>

And still she pretended like he was just acting in the confines of their deal.

It was better for him if she pretended not to know. Better for them both. If she pretended not to know, she wouldn't get her heart broken when he left (and he would, like almost everyone else had), and he would eventually hate her and leave in frustration, never to truly see how broken she was.

Because Katya _was_ broken. She was just good at hiding it. The last month had been proof of that, pretending like everything was okay and happy and cheerful, and ignoring that there was something just plain _wrong_ about parents who only visited twice a year, and were more acquaintances than parents.

The only thing her parents had ever truly given her was the credo she lived by. Don't love, and don't be loved. Not that that last part was any problem, at least not until Touma came along. Everything until him had been so easy to accept. No one stayed, and no one loved her.

It had been hard not to love anyone back. Katya could remember being so desperate for any little scrap of love that she would have done anything for someone to love her. The fact she perceived her romance with Akio as some kind of fairy tale had been proof of that.

Akio didn't love her, and he ran as soon as he saw how far that old desperation of hers to be loved had run. She hated him for leaving her after they had been intimate, but she knew that it was less about their intimacy and more about how needy she was. He could probably smell it on her, those vibes of "love me, someone please love me," and cut his losses.

But had she really hardened after Akio? No, not really. She remembered that stupid… _thing_ back in January with senpai. Just sex… She had been an _idiot_. And trying to pretend like it hadn't hurt when he told her why he was ending it...

But it had been a slip. A misstep in her calculations. She was better than that now.

But Touma? He just had to make things hard. It was only supposed to be a deal. She had wanted to give him that experience, something positive and happy and at least somewhat romantic, even if it was a deal. But her intentions had been kind. A positive first romantic experience, something he could look back on and not regret like she did with Akio.

She wondered if she had made a mistake with Touma. They were so similar, the two of them. The broken family, that feeling of isolation from everyone else. But Touma was different from her, or maybe it was just the year gap between their ages. Touma was younger and more isolated, so he was less jaded than Katya.

In some ways, he was who she had been.

And that was why she had to break his heart.

Don't love.

Don't be loved.

And nothing will hurt.

At least that's what she told herself.


End file.
